


just a rogue synth

by karnaca



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Post-Game, all platonic unless you squint, railroad ending, sole's gender is ambiguous
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-12
Updated: 2016-04-12
Packaged: 2018-06-01 18:52:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6532051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karnaca/pseuds/karnaca
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With the Institute destroyed, X6-88 finds himself lacking a purpose, but not lacking a friend.</p>
<p>(a oneshot but also an exploration of X6 after the railroad ending - why he's still with sole and what he's up to now. also some hinting at the idea of Railroad!X6-88)</p>
            </blockquote>





	just a rogue synth

**Author's Note:**

> Basically, I love X6-88 he is my son and I hope I wrote him well enough (gross I haven't written in ages).
> 
> I was really fucking bummed with what bethesda did with him. Like damn, bethesda. We get blind betrayal for danse and the aftermath makes it really hard to keep danse around and then he just stops talking to you with you attack the brotherhood anyway. So it was shitty but we got that, but with X6?? NOTHING?? After the railroad ending he's still with you?? he's not hostile?? no explanation??? no dialogue change??
> 
> so yeah, obviously to me, this only means one thing: RAILROAD!X6
> 
> but that's not what this is. I may write some kind of sequel piece to this with him established as that, but idk. This is just X6, out in the world without instruction.

It’s when they kill another courser that X6 finally realizes that Sole was right.

He would die for Sole — the feeling is mutual and they both know this. Despite that he doesn't agree with every little thing Sole does, but he accepts that he can't change them. And he's thankful for that, because X6 was beginning to think he was so far up Sole’s ass that they could walk him into flames and he would let the fire consume him without question.

_“You haven’t just destroyed your son’s legacy, you’ve destroyed all hope for mankind,”_ is what he told them after mass fusion. He swore in that moment he could have hated them — hated them for earning his respect, hated them for being responsible for that small part of him that understood why it needed to happen.

Hindsight’s a bitch.

When Sole destroyed everything — that put a strain in him. It was wrong, it went against everything he knew, everything he believed — but still he trusted Sole. He remembers watching them detonate the bomb with a heaviness in them, a pain to do what was necessary. That's how he knew Sole still cared for the greater good. That's when he knew that in Sole’s eyes, synth lives were above knowledge and power. Synths lives were the greater good.

_His_ life was the greater good.

Perhaps that's why he continued to travel with Sole. They destroyed everything he stood for, yet he was suddenly liberated. The lack of purpose chewed at him.

So he hangs onto Sole, because he has nothing.

After all, what's a vision without loyalty? He favors the latter so much more. He trusted Father and his vision, turned himself into one that hunted the escaped, the slave that hunted the slaves — and then came Sole spewing all that Railroad nonsense.

And then came Sole, burning everything to the ground.

It’s been months since then. Before, when he had everything, he had nothing but the SRB. Now, when he has nothing, Sole’s given him friendship and a house in Sanctuary all to himself. He likes it.

When they stroll into University Point, he reminds Sole that this was previously an Institute safehouse for coursers. Sole only smiles at him and tells them that’s what they’re here for.

“Well, just stay alert. Don’t get too confident,” X6 replies after a pause. The words are easy in his mouth but there’s something welling up inside him. Sole trails a few steps ahead of him, sniper rifle in hand, and he can only hope they don’t look back at him. He must be beaming.

Even after everything, the Railroad doesn’t trust him and he doesn’t think they ever will. Sole tried to take him into HQ once and it just ended badly for everyone. So yeah, he’s _technically_ on their side now but neither parties want to accept that. He’s kept away from any agents that visit Sole’s settlements — save for Deacon, as that man will talk to anyone a mile a minute. Hell, the agent’s practically warmed up to X6, since he’s part of the handful of people who no longer fear him or hate him.

Sole’s frequently rescuing synths, those that were teleported to unfortunate places of the Commonwealth during the end of the Institute. Sometimes Sole goes alone, sometimes Sole takes a friend. Sometimes, Sole will take him. It’s the next logical step for his little adjustment period — after all, seeking out synths in the Commonwealth is what he does best.

He always let’s Sole do the talking, as the synths know what coursers can do and what they’ve done. He’s here to help now, but he knows they’re still scared of him, so Sole always does the talking.

Despite his newly formed track record of betterness, Sole’s trust in him with anti-Institute standings has only ever extended itself to rescuing Synths and securing caches. This has never bothered X6-88, he knows his place and understands completely.

X6 has never killed another courser before. He knows Sole has done this numerous times, but they always either take Deacon or someone else — the super mutant, even. Now he’s here, with Sole in University Place, getting ready to _really_ take out one of his own.

It’s not that he cares about other coursers, they hardly ever spoke to each other, but the thought of it is a heavy concept on its own. A big step. And today they’re taking that step — it’s a show of Sole’s faith in him.

Hence, that damned smile that’s playing on his lips. Good thing Sole’s not looking, they get too giddy when they catch him smiling.

After quietly taking out a couple synths patrolling the exterior, they make their way inside. The place is disgusting — mirelurks and all. The smell makes X6 wrinkle his nose. His uniform is definitely going to get muddy in here, damn it. Crouched by a shelf, Sole turns to him.

“The courser is on the second floor,” they whisper, “I’ve got a couple stealth boys for us.”

“Already got one,” he says.

“Someone’s prepared,” scoffs Sole, cocking their gun — they’ve switched to an automatic shotgun.

“Always,” he says not in quip but in all seriousness. Being ready is never a joke.

The two of them sneak upstairs, being careful not to wake startle any of the mirelurks below and knifing synth guards from the back. They take what they can from the bodies and carry on down the broken hallway.

Before they near the room the course's in, he grabs Sole by the shoulder. “Wait.”

“What is it?” Their eyes begin to scour the area, alert for any danger.

“No, it’s not that,” he says, waving a hand dismissively. The tense awareness leaves Sole’s shoulders and they look at him, concerned.

“What’s wrong, X6?”

“Let me do the talking this time,” he says.

“What? You’re joking, right?” Sole is frowning.

“I’m really not,” he gives them a deadpan look.

“We’re not even going to talk to him!”

“ _I_ want to speak with him.”

Sole gives him a look. “Why?”

“As much as I love a good fight, maybe I could talk them into standing down, or even —” he cuts himself off, he knows for once he really isn’t making any sense. It’s been months but this is the closest he’ll ever get to some kind of closure. Saving synths is a good enough cause, but he needs to know he was wrong. He needs to know for real that he _knows_ the Institute was wrong.

Sole is still staring at him, a soft look of concern written on their features. For a brief moment X6 wonders how he ever got this far — from a cold courser to a friend.

“I’m confident he won’t attack me straight away. I just want to talk,” he says, hating how uncertain he sounds. “Will you allow it?”

Sole thinks for a moment and then quirks their head towards the room. “Go.”

He keeps his laser rifle with him, but lowered when he enters the room. The courser is not one he recognizes, so it makes things a little bit easier. He merely sits at the desk, but the synth guard attempts to attack at the sight of X6.

“Stand down,” the courser commands. He gets up from his chair, Institute Rifle at the ready. “X6-88. I assumed you were dead.”

X6, frowns slightly. “You assumed the vault dweller killed me.”

“Yes,” the courser’s gun does not waver, “but if you are here, then you were spared? You joined the traitor.”

“Why are you still active?” X6 swiftly changes the subject. “The Institute has been gone for months.”

“So you’ve given up, I see,” the courser glared.

“If you keep capturing synths, where would you bring them? Have you just been sitting here all this time?”

“I’m following my orders,” the courser grates out. “Currently, I no longer have any, thanks to your _friend_ , but I will not go AWOL.”

“When was your last order? The last time you had contact with anyone from the Institute?” X6 prods. “You’re wasting your life.”

“My _life_ is was the Institute!” The courser jabs his rifle at X6, but he knows he won’t shoot just yet. “When did you become this? You were the best of us, and now you’re gurgling irrelevance about life? We do not have the privilege of lives, X6.”

The words were so filled with venom X6 almost reeled back, but he held his cool composure. Here before him was a courser with no purpose left to go by, no more instructions. This would have been him if it weren’t for Sole. He would not have been granted a life, he would have been given instructions until his destruction.

“Perhaps that was the downfall of the Institute,” the words were out of his mouth before he knew it. “Gen-3s were still mere tools, despite our sentience. We were expected to give and get nothing in return.”

The coursers eyes widened, then the glare that followed was cold as ice. The Institute Rifle tapped on his chest — not lightly. “You joined the Railroad, didn’t you?”

X6 couldn’t answer. What would he say? That he works for them but they have yet to accept him as one of their own?

He finds words, not much but enough to feel _so_ foreign in his mouth. “We deserve more.”

“ _Rogue synth_ ,” the courser snarls, and X6 points his gun.

The laser hits the courser point blank in the chest, but by then he is already dead. An invisible blade is pulled out of the courser’s neck. X6’s lips quirk upwards. _Sole_.

The synth guard barges at Sole with a security baton, waving it blindly in hopes to strike its invisible enemy. X6 fires six shots at its legs until it’s crawling helplessly on the floor and let’s Sole finish it off with a shotgun blast to the head.

“That didn’t take long,” X6 smirked to fill the tense silence.

“Gotta love stealth boys,” Sole agreed with an eager nod. The smile on their face then morphs back into that soft look of concern X6 is growing tired of seeing.

“I’m fine,” he says, before Sole even opens their mouth.

“Are you sure? I heard everything.”

“I’m sure,” he nods. “Sure about everything, now.”

_Rogue synth_ is what the courser called him. He supposed that was correct, he is no longer a courser. He is more. He stares down at the courser’s limp body.

“Hey,” Sole nudges him. X6 looks at them, still contemplating the state of his loyalties and beliefs. He was sure, now. He’s no longer a courser, nor is he officially Railroad. For now, he just _is_.

“I’m proud of you,” Sole says. “... though you already know that.”

“You’ve made it clear more than once, yes,” he attempts to sound neutral, but he can’t help the shy smile.

Much to his dismay, Sole does not let it go unnoticed. “We got a smile! Really, you should smile more often.”

“Be quiet,” X6 says curtly. Sole, giddy and all, claps him on the shoulder.

“No way, you’ve just _brightened_ my day!”

“You do this every time,” he grimaces, stepping away from Sole to loot the courser.

“You see this, world?” Sole is practically singing, loudly, “This stonecold courser can smile!”

Almost immediately, down in the lower level, muffled eruptions from the ground sounded off. Sole groaned. “ _Fuck_.”

“You’re fault,” X6 says right away. “You woke up those repulsive things with your excitement.”

“I forgot about the mirelurks,” Sole muttered, deflating. “Well, let’s get out of here.”

“I’m all for a fight but let’s try not to engage with them, please,” X6 says quietly, crouching after Sole, “I don’t want anymore mud in my uniform.”

“You’re strangely pacifist today, you know that?” Sole whispers.

He only shrugs.

“Whatever, I’m still proud of you. When we get back, I’m talking to Desdemona again about making you a Heavy.”

“That… I would appreciate that,” he says, eyebrows raised in slight surprise.

“And also, I’m getting you a housecat.”

“Okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments/kudos are love and lifeblood <3
> 
> also yeah you can hit me up [here](http://batmaun.tumblr.com).


End file.
